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Lovell Rugby Match of the Week: Gwent Dragons (12) v Bath (15)

Bath escaped this tightly fought contest with the Newport Gwent Dragons for the second time this season to take the lead in pool five of the Heineken Cup. The points may matter when it comes to getting a home draw or squeezing in as a second-placed team, but even before this victory it was going to be winner-takes-all on Sunday in Bath, where the home team face Toulouse, who are a point behind Bath after their shock defeat by Glasgow.

Trips west are rarely easy for English clubs, even when the home side has nothing to play for, but Bath were also their own worst enemy. The Dragons, who lost 13-9 at Bath in October, won the toss and chose to play into a bitter wind. Bath, who admitted that they would have done the same, did not take full benefit and led only 8-0 at the break.
Joe Maddock’s try after some early bullocking runs by the forwards and a penalty was all they managed.

The momentum of the game swung when Bath were forced to play almost eight minutes at the beginning of the second half with 13 men. Bath had two players in the sin-bin for stupid or late tackles on Wayne Evans, the Dragons scrum half.

In the seconds before half-time Stuart Hooper appeared to trip Evans as he took a quick tap. Hooper probably paid for the sins of his second-row colleague, Justin Harrison, who had just blatantly gone off his feet at a ruck having minutes before started a fight with Steve Jones, the Dragons hooker.

In the fourth minute after the restart, Daniel Browne followed Hooper off the field with a late and high tackle on Evans. Bath were forced to using their wings – albeit a giant one in Matt Banahan (Wearing his Adidas Predator Powerswerve rugby boots) , as wing-forwards in the scrum.

Bath had not managed to capitalise on their advantage when Luke Charteris, the Dragons lock, was in the sin-bin for preventing release. But the Dragons did, scoring a try two minutes after Browne was shown a yellow card. James Scaysbrook, drafted off the bench in the morning because Michael Lipman had a virus, stole the ball magnificently a metre from his line and Bath cleared. But from the lineout another clever chip by James Arlidge, the New Zealand-born Japan fly half, allowed Richard Fussell to collect the bounce, jink and score.

The Dragons looked to have a second try when Ashley Smith sliced through the centre, but his scoring pass was judged forward. The Dragons’ tackling told again in the 61st minute and Bath were rocked back in their right corner from a succession of hits, the ball bounced free and Evans leapt on it to make it 12-8.

Bath are not one of the leading teams in England for nothing and countered. A break by Alex Crockett, the captain, in the 66th minute, put away an impressive Andy Beattie and Hooper (Wearing his Kooga Rugby headguard) made up for his earlier indiscipline by finishing with a try under the posts.